Ingredients

• 1 celery with leaves
• 1 small onion (quartered)
• 1 medium carrots (peeled and quartered)
• For dumpling dough -
• 1 ½ cups flour
• ½ teaspoon salt
• 3 tablespoon shortening; that’s Crisco
• 1 egg
• 5 tablespoon water

Directions

• Directions
• First cut the chicken in half right down the middle makes it easier to cook. Wash chicken good under running water. Put chicken into a stewing pot with enough water to cover the chicken about 2 inches.
• Bring it to a boil, reduce the heat, and let it simmer until done about 30 minutes. While its cooking every once in a while skim the foam off the top of the water with a spoon and sling it into the sink, then turn the chicken in the pot once in a while.
• While its cooking make the dumplings. Mix flour, salt, shortening crumble it in your hands until it looks like flour. Add eggs and water and mix it well. Pat it into a big circle, dust it with flour and roll it out about 1/8 inch thickness, let it rest for 15 minutes.
• By now the chicken should be done. Remove the onion, celery stalk and carrot pieces and discard. Take it out of the pot and let it cool until you can handle it.
• Remove the meat from the chicken and discard all the skin, bones and some unknown stuff. Chop the meat into bite-sized pieces. Bring to broth back to a boil.
• Cut the dumplings into strips about 1inch wide. Pick up the strips one at a time and pinch off pieces and drop them into the boiling broth. Every so often, stop and stir to make sure they’re not sticking together.
• When all the dumplings are in broth, let the whole thing cook about five more minutes, then test to see if it has the texture you want. It should be done by now, but if the dumpling is still raw in the middle let it all cook a little longer.
• Finally, add about half teaspoon of salt and taste to see if it needs more. Now add the cream or milk and dump the chicken back into the bowl and dust it with black pepper.